Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

*This review refers to an advanced copy.  Matched will be available for purchase November 30, 2010.

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  The townspeople themselves experience no violence in their society.  They do watch a film which shows a person being shot. Blood stains his shirt and he falls to the ground.  This is so surreal to the audience that they laugh.  Cassia hears stories of poisoned rain and rivers which kill people.  She also learns of Ky’s past from pictures he has drawn showing him holding the words “mother” and “father” in his arms shaped like drooping dead bodies.  Pictures of the officials in these drawings show red hands representing their responsibility in what has happened.

Sexual Content:  Cassia remembers  playing kissing games as a young child.  She is relieved to know her match so that she can finally think of him with more romantic thoughts.  Xander and Cassia kiss after a recreational activity.  Cassia describes the feeling as “sweet”.  She and Xander hold hands and hug.  Cassia begins to have feelings for Ky after she has been matched to Xander.  She and Ky find opportunities to hold hands.  Cassia has a strong desire to kiss Ky but knows what it will do to Xander and her family.  Cassia finally gives in and kisses Ky.  It is all that she had hoped.  As part of Society rules, the optimal age for citizens to conceive, resulting in healthy offspring, is discussed.

Adult themes:  Cassia lives in a society where the government makes all of the hard decisions and leaves their citizens with few opportunities to make choices of their own.  This appears safe at first, but through major life changing experiences, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s rules. One of these was the mandatory death of her grandfather, at which she was present.  Cassia is provided with many opportunities to succeed in her society but chooses to go against them.

Synopsis

Cassia has always trusted the Society.  They are never wrong.  They choose what you eat, what you wear, who you marry and when you die.  Life has been better for everyone since the Society has been in control.  Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she will attend her Match Banquet to find out who she will marry.  When her best friend Xander’s picture shows up on the screen she is surprised and relieved.  It is uncommon for a person to know who their match is, but she has known Xander her whole life and loves him dearly.  When Cassia gets home and puts in the computer chip to view background information on her match, a strange thing happens.  Xander’s picture comes up and then the screen goes black.  For a split second another face shows up on the screen.  Even stranger, is that it is a picture of another person she knows, Ky.  Cassia is puzzled.  How could this happen?  Was she really supposed to be matched with Xander? Throughout the summer Cassia finds opportunities to be with Ky and learns that he has come from the outer province areas where he lost his parents.  He also knows how to write something that has not been taught for generations.  Cassia asks him to teach her.  This is stepping on shaky ground and could get them both into serious trouble.  As Cassia spends more time with Ky she wonders why there is so little creating and ability to make choices in their world.  She begins to question all that the Society does to ensure happy productive lives for it’s citizens.  Cassia must now decide between the safety of being with Xander, whom she has always loved, or Ky who helps her to feel alive, real and free.  It is a decision that will change their world.

This is a must read.  Not only is Matched a touching love story, but it examines the very basis of what makes us happy and gives us purpose.  It will leave you thinking and grateful for all you have and all that you can be.